PERTH, Australia (AFP) -- Increasing numbers of illegal Asian immigrants
are working in Western Australian brothels, a sex worker support agency says.

Up to 100 illegal immigrants were engaged in prostitution in the Western
Australian capital, the manager of the Perth-based Phoenix agency, Felicity
Lewis, said here Friday.

"While they make up only a small percentage of Perth prostitutes at
present, their numbers could grow further," she said.

Lewis was commenting on the revelation by police that five women from
overseas found working in Perth brothels had been deported in recent weeks.

Australian Government statistics show that the number of illegal immigrants
caught working as prostitutes had grown from 56 in 1996-97 to 243 in 1998-99.

On Australia's eastern seaboard, the director of Sydney Hospital's Sexual
Health Centre, Professor Basil Donovan, has estimated that about 200
illegal immigrants are currently working as prostitutes in Sydney.

While Sydney is the favorite destination of overseas prostitutes, Perth had
the potential to become a haven for Asian prostitutes, he said.

Australian Department of Immigration reports say the women are usually
recruited by international crime syndicates from Asia.

Melanie Orhant
Stop-Traffic Moderator

Please contact me off-list for any questions about Stop-Traffic at
<<morhant@igc.org>>.

Women's Reproductive Health Initiative
Program for Appropriate Technology in Health
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dealing with human rights abuses associated with trafficking
in persons, with an emphasis on public health and trafficking
in persons for forced labor, including forced prostitution,
sweatshop labor, domestic service and some coercive mail
order bride arrangements.
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